


Get Down On Your Knees and Tell Me You Love Me

by SinisterMind



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: M/M, MUKE MUKE MUKE - Freeform, Marriage, WOO, high school muke, muke is life, tour muke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-13 00:09:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5686954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SinisterMind/pseuds/SinisterMind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I cannot believe you invited Hemmings’ over”</p><p>“I cannot believe I’m marrying you, Hemmings’”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Get Down On Your Knees and Tell Me You Love Me

**Author's Note:**

> i had no internet for a week so i wrote this and it probably won't make sense in places bc i cbs proof reading and I would write at 2am.

Calum was Michael’s best friend and everyone knew that. No one could separate the duo, they did literally everything together. They were a weird mix but they made it work. Michael was a secluded boy who found it hard to keep up in school and Calum was a somewhat shy soccer player. 

Michael would always sit on the sidelines of Calum’s soccer games – and trainings – even though he had no clue what was going on. He didn’t like sports but he was always there to support his best friend. They were – are – really close and that’s why he was not so happy when he got to school one day to see his best friend talking to fucking Hemmings. 

Michael hated Luke. He hated that he was so popular and he hated that he had so many friends that were older which automatically made him cool. And he hated that Luke was so good at everything and he made Michael feel like a right idiot in the classes they had together. 

Michael didn’t want to go up to them in the hallway. He was stubborn like that. He just leaned against his locker and fiddled with his blazer pockets whilst glaring at his best friend and Hemmings. And maybe he was over reacting a little bit but he didn’t care. Calum was his best friend and how fucking dare he talk to his arch nemesis. 

Michael was still glaring when Calum was walking towards him. He wasn’t glaring at Calum, he was glaring at the back of Luke’s head as he walked the opposite way down the hallway. 

 

“If you keep glaring like that, your face will stay that way” Calum pointed out as he slid against the wall until he was on the ground. 

“Shut up” Michael grumbled taking a seat next to him. “Why were you talking to Hemmings’?”

“Why can’t I talk to Luke?” Calum asked “He’s very nice and he’s funny too”

“He’s my arch nemesis” 

“What did he ever do to you?”

“That’s not the point, the point is you’re my best friend”

“I’m allowed to have other friends, Mikey. Just give Luke a chance”

 

As the day progressed, Michael was still annoyed at Calum for talking to Luke. Michael hated the boy with the fringe that Michael knows he stole off of him. The emo fringe was his thing and Luke shouldn’t do it. 

Luke was in Michael’s math class and he loathed it because of course Luke was fucking amazing at maths and he was failing nearly every test they had. He sat behind Luke in this class so he’d spend the days doodling in his notebook instead of doing the equations like he was supposed to and glaring at the back of Luke’s head. 

Sometimes when Michael was particularly agitated, he’d kick the back of Luke’s chair but he only got more pissed off when Luke wouldn’t even turn around. He wanted to get a reaction out of him but Luke would only ignore him and keep on being the perfect student. 

 

“I don’t get why you and Luke aren’t friends” Calum says one day when they’re walking to Michael’s house. “You like the exact same music and both play guitar”

“I don’t need any more friends” Michael mumbled more to himself than to Calum “I have you, don’t I?”

“Course you do but you can’t always rely on me” Calum pointed out “It’s always good to have more”

“But I don’t want to be friends with stupid Hemmings’” 

 

Michael dug around in his school bag for his house key before unlocking the door and letting himself and Calum in. 

“Mum?” Michael called out only to be met with silence. 

“Where’s she this time?” Calum asked as he followed Michael up the stairs to his bedroom. 

“I don’t know. Perth maybe?” Michael sighed as he placed his bag in the corner of his room and taking his blazer off. “Dad will be home later tonight”  
“Do you want me to stay until he does?”

“Please”

 

Michael was used to being alone. He liked it though. He liked sitting by himself, he liked being alone in his room and he liked taking walks by himself but despite his love for being alone, he doesn’t fancy being lonely. 

He wasn’t one to have a lot of friends, be in huge crowds of people. He was comfortable with a few people around him but sometimes it became too overwhelming for him to handle and he needs to step outside. 

Calum knew this. He knew that Michael had grown accustomed to being alone, growing up with no siblings and parents that worked every day took a toll on him. 

Calum took his own blazer off and lay it on top of his school bag and sat on the edge of Michael’s bed. He watched as Michael cleared some papers off of his desk and grabbed his laptop, bringing it over to the bed and opening YouTube so they could watch some music videos or something. 

 

“Can I show you something?” Calum asked. Michael shrugged and nudged the laptop over to his friend. Calum brought the laptop onto lap before typing what he wanted to show Michael. 

“What is this?” Michael questioned looking at the screen. “Why is Hemmings on YouTube?”

“He does covers of songs” Calum told Michael as he clicked on a video and soon the soft strums of Luke’s acoustic was heard. 

Michael didn’t say anything. He just listened to Luke’s voice. He wouldn’t admit it – even to himself – but he really liked the way Luke sounded. It was good, not Alex Gaskarth singing Therapy live good but good none the less. 

“He was okay, I guess” Michael told Calum as the video ended. Calum’s eyes locked with Michaels before he shrugged and typed in another video and soon the sound of ‘Feeling This’ by Blink-182 started playing. 

 

Calum left around 8:30 that night, when Michael’s Dad came home. Michael’s dad didn’t even acknowledge Calum being there, too absorbed by his phone and told Michael to make whatever for dinner as he had an important call to make. 

Michael walked Calum to the front door and breathed out. 

 

“You gonna be okay?” Calum asked as he looked at his best friend carefully. 

“Yeah” Michael smiled sadly “It always happens”

 

Michael made a sandwich for himself and took it to his room. He’s not supposed to have food there but his dad was busy so he wouldn’t notice. And if Michael went to his YouTube history and looked for the video of Luke singing and watched all his videos that he was able to find, well, that’s none of your business. 

 

Michael went to Calum’s house the following week. It was a regular occurrence. What wasn’t regular was that fucking Hemmings’ was sitting on his bean bag in Calum’s room and Calum didn’t fucking tell him that he was going to be there. 

 

“You wouldn’t have come over if I said Luke was here too” Calum says from his bed. It’s like he can read Michael’s mind. “But you’re here, Luke’s here and I’m here and I’m forcing you to be friends”

“Fuck off” Michael said at the exact same time Luke said a small “I can go if you want”

 

And maybe Michael felt a little guilty but he didn’t show it so he rolled his eyes and flopped onto Calum’s bed. 

 

“You can stay” Michael grumbled as he rolled over to face the ceiling, missing the giant smile that was present on Luke’s face as he did so. 

 

“So, I was just telling Luke how we watched his videos on YouTube” Calum explained. Michael’s eyes widened and he sat up, pushing his fringe out of his eyes. 

“They’re not that good” Luke blushed from his spot on the beanbag

“Not that good?!” Michael exclaimed before he could stop himself. Luke and Calum stared at him with strange expressions, neither expected Michael to have a nice opinion on Luke’s singing. Michael coughed. “I mean, it was good, you’re a good singer”

“Thanks” Luke says blushing even harder at Michael’s compliment. 

“Michael’s always wanted to start a band, haven’t you Mikey?” Calum pushed and Michael looked down slightly bashful and toyed with the ends of his hoodie sleeves. 

“Yeah, that’d be cool” he mumbled “Like All Time Low”

“I love All Time Low!” Luke all but shouted before realising just how loudly his statement was. “Oops, sorry, All Time Low are one of my favourite bands!”

“Really?” Michael asked sitting up a little straighter, almost as if he was challenging Luke. “What’s your favourite song?”

“Um, I like Jasey Rae and Keep the Change You Filthy Animal, or maybe Lullabies” Luke rambled before he could continue talking about his favourite All Time Low songs, Michael cut him off. 

“Lullabies is my favourite song!” he cut in. “I could listen to it forever, do you like Simple Plan?”

“No Pads is my most played album on my iPod!” 

“No fucking way!”

 

Luke had to leave a few hours later, something about going to his brother’s cricket game, which sounded incredibly boring to Michael. He was surprised to feel sort of sad when Luke waved goodbye. 

“Told you he wasn’t that bad” Calum smirked 

“Shut up” Michael grumbled “Maybe he’s not that bad” 

 

Things changed from that moment on. Calum, Michael and Luke spent nearly every afternoon after school at Calum’s house just messing about with guitars, recording some shitty covers of their favourite songs and uploading them to Luke’s YouTube channel. 

Since Calum was busy with soccer as well as this band thing they had going on, Michael stopped attending all his training sessions, opting to spend some time with Luke. They’d either go to Michael’s house for peace and quiet or they’d go to Luke’s if they wanted a little more excitement. Michael loved Luke’s house. It was so friendly and welcoming and it felt like a home. His own house didn’t feel much like one, since he’s normally the only one there. One of his parents might be home in the evening but they were always making calls or sending emails to who knows who and there was no one to fight with or talk with. 

At Luke’s house, Luke’s mother was always around, she was a maths teacher and that explained why Luke was so good at maths. Luke also had a dog and two older brothers and you could always hear them thumping around and yelling. Sometimes they’d come in and mess with Luke, often shoving his face into their sweaty armpits because Luke was small and scrawny and Michael would watch with amusement as Luke struggled and it was so entertaining even though they were being mean to Luke but it was in a sibling way that Michael wanted. 

 

Their band was gaining fans and Michael had even booked them a fucking gig at a hotel. They didn’t even have a drummer in their band but Michael calmly replied that he knew a guy and promptly messaged him on Facebook asking if he was interested in playing a gig for them. 

Ashton was his name. Ashton was weird. They were all weird but Ashton was all smiles and giggles and he meant business. But he was a fucking amazing drummer. 

Before they knew it, it was the day of the gig. They were meant to go on stage in about five minutes but they couldn’t find Luke. Michael was rushing down corridors that he had no clue where they were leading him to. 

 

“Luke!” Michael shouted “C’mon! We’re about to go on stage!”

Michael stopped for a second to catch his breath – fuck he was unfit – and heard a small sniffing sound. Curiously he followed the sound and was confused as to why it lead him to what looked like a cupboard. Cautiously he opened it and nearly screamed when Luke was there, leaning against the wall. 

 

“Luke! What the fuck! We’re about to go on stage in like two minutes!” He shouted 

“I’m sorry! I’m nervous!” Luke mumbled crossing his arms over his chest. “Never played in front of people before”

“Luke you’re gonna be fine” Michael promised grabbing hold of Luke’s arm. 

“What if I – “Luke started but he didn’t get to finish as something stopped him. Michael. Michael’s lips to be specific. Luke was so shocked he couldn’t move and Michael stopped and took a step back, wiping at his mouth, eyes wide. 

“Don’t, don’t tell anyone I did that” he breathed out before turning on his heel and running back to where the stage was. Luke stood there for a moment, trying to process what the fuck just happened. He bought his hand up to his mouth before shaking his head and running in the same direction as Michael did. They had a show to put on. 

 

The show wasn’t what they expected if they were being honest. There was like 12 people in the crowd and half of them were Luke’s family. Michael was 90% sure his parents didn’t even know where he was right now, even though he specifically told them what was happening and how they had a fucking gig. 

Backstage, they were all bursting with adrenaline because that was their first ever gig and it wasn’t that good but it was a fucking good start.   
Luke and Michael didn’t mention that kiss. 

 

Calum’s mum dropped him home later that night, he took out his key and opened the door. It was silent and he knew his parents weren’t home. As usual. He wanted to tell them all about the gig he performed but they wouldn’t care. 

Michael sloped off to his room and looked around. He liked his room, he had to because he spent majority, if not all, of his time in it. He hears boys at school talking about their rooms and how they have half naked girls and dirty magazines. 

Just last week he had been at his locker, minding his own business, when the group of boys next to him started talking loudly and he couldn’t help but overhear. And what they were talking about was fucking disgusting. They were talking about girls as if they were nothing more than a sex object.

 

“Don’t talk about women that way” he heard himself butt in. 

“Why, Clifford?” one of them “You don’t even like girls”

“You’re a faggot” another ridiculed “a fucking faggot”

“Faggot with that Hemmings kid” the first one laughs “Look there he is! Run along and be faggots”

 

He didn’t know what to do. He just stood there taking the slurs and wanting to cry. He wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of them beating him up – well not physically but he still felt a punch in the gut when they would use homophobic slurs. 

The bell rings then and they all start walking to their class but Michael doesn’t move. He can see Luke walking the opposite direction and slowly follows. He passes Calum on the stairs, Calum was frantically running up the stairs but stopped in his tracks when he saw Michael making his way down. 

 

“Hey, Mikey, where you going?” Calum asked “Your class is the other way”

“Leave me alone” Michael says quietly trying to make his way past Calum. Calum grabbed him by his school shirt and tugged him closer so that he could wrap his arms around his best friend.

“Why are you upset?” Calum asked and he was shocked when Michael kind of flopped. Michael wasn’t one to let anyone know when he was upset but right now, he had his arms wrapped around Calum’s waist, head leaning on his shoulder and he was breathing heavily. 

“Can we go to the field?” he asked softly “Don’t wanna go to class” 

“Yeah, yeah let’s go” Calum breathed out. 

 

The duo walked to the field and sat on the fence furthest away from the buildings. Calum slung his school bag to the side as Michael fiddled with the ends of his shirt, it was meant to be tucked into his pants but no one ever followed that rule. 

Calum wanted to ask what was wrong but he didn’t want to pressure him so they just sat there in silence and watched a few late comers run into school. 

 

“They were calling me a faggot” Michael finally said. 

“Why were they calling you that?” Calum asked, eyes wide. 

“They were disrespecting women” he stated, leaning forward so his elbows were resting on his knees. “And I told them not to do that, and then they called me a faggot and they called Luke one too”

“You’re not, um, one of those” Calum puts in.

“I’m fucking gay, Calum” he looks at Calum, watery eyes “I like boys”

“Oh” Calum pauses and shuffles closer to him. “That’s okay, it’s okay to be gay”

“I really am a faggot” 

“Stop saying that! You’re not! You’re Michael Clifford, my best friend who just happens to be gay and that’s fucking okay!” 

“I have a crush on Luke” Michael blurts out and fuck why did he say that? Now of all times. 

“Wow, I wasn’t expecting that, if I’m being honest” Calum looks over at the school buildings. “Thought you hated the guy”

“I hated him because I liked him” Michael mumbles “Because he’s Luke Hemmings and I’m just, me” 

“You’re so much more than that” Calum insisted “You always put yourself down when you’re literally the most amazing person I’ve ever met”

“I kissed Luke”

“You what now?”

 

Michael ended up going to his afternoon classes, he had maths last period and as usual he sat behind Luke. He didn’t annoy him anymore but if Luke was being honest, he kind of missed the attention that he gave him. 

 

“Where have you been?” Luke asked when the bell rang and they were walking to their lockers. 

“Felt sick” he responded not wanting to explain what really happened

“Oh” Luke looked sympathetically at Michael “Hope you feel better soon!”

 

Michael didn’t mean for Luke to find out about his crush on him but he’s glad he did because Luke felt the same way. And it was really fucking stupid because Michael honestly thought he called Calum because the name for Calum’s contact was ‘Loser’ and Luke’s was just ‘Luke’ with a molester moon and a party hat emoticon, so they were like right next to each other in his contacts because he may just have five people in his contacts. 

But Michael didn’t even wait until ‘Calum’ greeted him before he started ranting about how fucking cute Luke looked today and it was so nice to be able to talk about these things freely to his best friend but apparently the world hates Michael and he wanted to fucking die when he heard a voice that was certainly not Calum.

And Michael was mortified. 

He hung up immediately and called the real Calum and started ranting about how he fucking accidentally called Luke and fucking said that he was cute. And Calum was laughing so hard that he couldn’t speak over the phone so Michael was just yelling at him to help him kill himself because he can’t face Luke ever again. 

Turns out he really had called the real Calum the first time. Luke was just at Calum’s house and Calum was too lazy to answer the phone and Luke was too awkward to say anything at first. 

Michael didn’t know that until he went to Calum’s house soon after the mortifying phone call incident and Luke was sitting in Michael’s bean bag on the floor while Calum lay on his bed. Honestly he didn’t even notice Luke at first, just slammed the door open and face planted on Calum’s bed while moaning about how he fucked everything up with Luke.   
And once again Michael was mortified to find Luke sitting on his fucking bean bag, biting on his lip and fuck, if it wasn’t for that god awful fringe it would be so hot. 

 

Calum had excused himself then and Michael could hear the loud thumps of his footsteps on the stairs. 

Michael and Luke sat eye to eye on Calum’s bed. Neither wanting to start talking and Michael honestly wishes for the world to swallow him whole.

 

“So” Luke says awkwardly – Michael thinks everything he says is awkward – and fiddled with his sleeves. “You, like me?”

“I think you got the message from that phone call” Michael muttered and crossed his arms. 

“Why?” Luke asked

“Why what?” Michael asked back. 

“Why do you like me when you used to hate me?”

“I never hated you” Michael started “Well, I kinda did because I had a crush on you and you wouldn’t pay attention to me so I kept like kicking your chair and shit to get a reaction and it never worked”

“Oh” Luke thought “I like you too”

“You don’t have to say that just because I like you”

“But I do!” Luke insisted “I’ve liked you since year 7! I was just too scared to talk to you because you’re like a year older than me and you have a cool fringe that is so much better than mine and I thought you were really badass because you never wore your blazer outside of school”

“You thought I was a badass because I didn’t wear my blazer to and from school” Michael snorted “That’s so fucking lame”

“Shut up” Luke muttered before raising his voice to a normal level. “So, what now?”

“Well, you ask me on a date”

“Why me?”

“Because I want you to ask me! I’m not doing all the work”

 

They did go on a date though. The following weekend. Luke had walked to Michael’s house in the early evening and was surprised to see him sitting on the brick fence outside. Michael refused to admit that he was too excited to wait inside so he sat outside so they could go on the date quicker. 

And they walked down to the strip of shops where everyone goes after school. 

 

“Stop trying to hold my hand” Michael grumbles as the pair walk side by side to what he thinks is McDonald’s (he’s right). 

“I’m not” Luke says indignantly “You’re trying to hold mine!” 

“No I’m not” He says but he smiles when Luke lets out a small sigh and entwines their hands together. Yeah, he could get used to this. 

 

The date could have been better. Like, it was fun but the part where Luke spills his coke all over himself wasn’t that fun. To Luke that is, Michael thought it was the funniest thing in the world and nearly ended up choking on his chips from laughing to hard. 

It wasn’t that late when they were walking back towards Michael’s house. He was pretty sure his parents weren’t home so they were in no hurry to get back. Michael told them he was going on a date but as usual he was brushed off as his Mum gave him a kiss on the forehead with a suitcase rolling behind her as she made her way to the taxi out front.   
He didn’t even know where she was going. 

Luke walked Michael all the way up to the front door and maybe this is the part where they kiss? Do you kiss on the first date? Luke didn’t know, he hasn’t been on one before, he’s only 15. 

Michael didn’t know either as he shoved his hands in his hoodie pockets and looked down at Luke. 

 

“I had fun” Michael started “Looking forward to the next one”

“Next one” Luke joked “What makes you think I want to go on another?”

“Oh” Michael looked down at his converse clad feet. “You don’t want to go out with me again?”

“No! I do! I’m sorry, I was joking before” Luke stumbled over his words.

“Oh” Michael said again with a small smile as he looked up. “I thought you were serious because I really like you and I’m not special or anything so I totally understood if you didn’t”

“I meant what I said, I like you too” Luke shyly said and why was he so shy?

 

The front door opened and Michael’s head turned so fast, Luke thought his neck would snap (it didn’t). Luke had never met Michael’s father before, he’d kinda met his mum even though it was only for like 30 seconds but never his father. 

 

“Michael, why are you out here with this boy?” He asked sternly and he saw Michael visibly gulp. 

“I, erm, I told you I was going on a, uh, date” Michael stammered “He was, um, just saying good bye”

“When you said date, I assumed you meant with a girl” His father spoke “Not a boy”

“Surprise?” Michael chuckled nervously, eyes shifting towards Luke as a ‘you need to go’ look. 

“Well, I had fun Michael” Luke smiled politely and stuck his hand out towards Michael’s dad. “I’m Luke Hemmings, nice to meet you”

“Michael, inside, now” he said sharply, ignoring Luke’s outstretched hand completely. “You, Liam was it? You need to leave”

 

Michael’s father yelled at him a lot that night. Michael yelled back too, to the point where his throat was sore. He never told his parents that he was gay, assumed they wouldn’t care because they don’t care about anything else he ever does. A loud slap echoed throughout the hall and it took Michael a moment to realise the searing pain going through his cheek and another to realise his dad had hit him. 

 

“Boys don’t date boys” was all he said

 

It was now Monday and he was getting ready for school. He really didn’t want to go. Michael looked at himself in the mirror and looked at his complexion. He was paler than normal, eyes were rimmed red and had grey circles under his eyes. 

He slipped on the uncomfortable grey shorts and short sleeved white shirt with a frown. He hated uniforms. He grabbed his school bag before heading down to the kitchen for breakfast – as per usual, his parents were gone. 

He walked via Calum’s house which wasn’t something he normally did as it was a longer walk to school but he wanted to be with Calum for now. 

 

“How was your date with Luke?” Calum asked as they walked to school

“It was fun” Michael says thinking back to the date “He spilt coke on himself but it was still fun”

“Then why do you look so bummed out?” 

“My dad” Michael started “He doesn’t like me going out with a boy”

“I thought he wouldn’t care?”

“Same here, but he caught me and Luke talking on the porch and he told Luke to leave” Michael stopped before releasing a shuddery breath. “He yelled at me so much”

 

They didn’t really talk after that on the way to school. Michael walked to his locker and got what he needed for his classes. 

 

“Faggot”

“Don’t call me that” 

“I saw you and Hemmings at Maccas, have a nice date?”

“Fuck off”

“Look out, guys, faggot has a mouth on him!”

“Stop calling me that!” 

“Calling you what? I’m just telling what you are. You. Are. A. Fucking. Faggot.”

 

Michael sat in the passenger seat of his dad’s car in silence. After what happened in the hallway before classes started, Michael was sent to the principal’s office for punching him. Yet the other guy didn’t get in trouble for anything. Fucking hell. 

He knew his dad was mad at him, more so than he already was. He wanted Luke, he wanted Luke so badly. 

As soon as they arrived back at home and out of the car, Michael was dragged into the house by his dad. He jumped as his dad slammed the front door shut behind him and took a deep breath as he faced the almost 16 year old. 

 

“Remember what I said a few nights ago?” his dad asked, crossing his arms in his work clothes. Michael can’t remember a time he wasn’t seen in fancy clothes. 

“Yes”

“What was it?”

“I’m not allowed to date boys” 

“Good, I’m going back to work. Stay here”

 

Right now, Michael despised his father. He sent out a text to Calum, Luke and Ashton saying that they’re having a band practice at his house. His mother won’t be home until the end of the week and his dad won’t be home until at least 9pm so he was in the clear. 

Michael waited in the living room, playing his acoustic guitar carelessly as he waited for 3:30pm to roll around. At least when he was at school he had something to do, here he was bored out of his mind even more than he was at school.

Ashton was the first to arrive, he was still in his school uniform and had his school bag with him as well as another bag which Michael assumed was a Cajon (and he was right). Michael had let out a snort of laughter when Ashton arrived in his ugly maroon blazer – at least his school’s was a dark red. 

 

“Luke and I are dating” Michael blurted out not long after Ashton arrived. Ashton blinked. 

“Okay I thought you two were when I joined the band like a month ago?” Ashton questioned 

“What? No? We went on a date on Saturday” Michael explained “Did it really look like we were dating before that?”

“Well, yeah” he thought “Like you were always staring at each other and it kinda made sense that you’d be together”

 

Michael was all heart eyes when Luke and Calum arrived soon after. He wasn’t sure if he and Luke were official but he really hoped Luke would ask him on their next date – which was the following weekend. 

Calum thought it was funny how much Michael liked Luke and can’t believe that he ‘hated’ Luke. He was surprised that Luke initiated everything, he would have sworn Michael would have pulled everything first. It was hilarious to Ashton and Calum when Luke told the story of Michael wanting to hold his hand on the way to their date – Michael denied everything saying Luke wanted to hold his hand but it was fucking obvious he lying. 

It was strange seeing Michael act this way around Luke. Now that everyone knew about his crush on Luke, he was more relaxed in a way. He didn’t feel the need to be as loud or sarcastic around them and it was strange but it was nice. It was like everything he did was waiting for Luke’s approval, if he made a joke, his eyes would always dart to Luke to see if he was laughing (he was even though Michael’s jokes really weren’t that funny). 

 

Michael’s dad came home an hour after they all left and maybe he was a little sad to see Luke (and the others but mainly Luke) leave but he understood. He sat on the couch, watching re runs of Friends as heard a car pull up into the driveway and a slam of the door. He made no move to answer the door to let his father in.

The loud footsteps were heard walking towards the lounge room and Michael stood up to make a move to his bedroom. He made eye contact with his dad as he walked by, his arms crossed in his work clothes. Michael can’t remember a time where his dad hasn’t been in professional clothes, he hasn’t seen his dad in a ratty top and tracksuit pants for as long as he could remember. He’s seen a picture, when he was looking through the old photo albums in the study. When Michael was a baby and his mum and dad were in casual clothes and Michael had no clothes on at all. 

 

Michael remembers the day where they passed 500 subscribers on YouTube. It was mind blowing and they had celebrated by eating pizza at Luke’s house. Luke’s brothers kept trying to invade their celebratory pizza and Luke would whine and kick at them until they left. Ashton surprisingly got on quite well with them, especially Jack as they are roughly the same age. Luke’s mum finally got them out of the room and told them off for bothering the boys which made Luke all smug. Ben made a face at him as Luke stuck his tongue out behind their mum’s back. 

 

Michael slid his phone out of his pocket and opened the Instagram app he recently downloaded. He and Luke were fully open with their relationship, online and at school. He avoided the boys who teased him for it, they moved on because Michael and Luke being together was old news. The only people who weren’t aware they were together were Michael’s parents and Luke totally understood why. 

 

“Hey Luke” Michael said posing the camera for a selfie. Luke turned around and saw Michael holding his phone. “Celebratory kiss?”

“Didn’t even have to ask” Luke replies leaning over and kissing his boyfriend as Michael clicked to capture the moment. 

“You guys are so cheesy” Ashton laughs from his spot on the floor. Michael rolls his eyes as he captions the photo and tags Luke’s account. (Luke’s Instagram is so fucking lame but Michael secretly adores it) 

“Cheesy is good” Luke grins grabbing another slice of pizza “Especially on this pizza”

“I agree with Luke on this” Calum nods as he also takes another slice. 

 

Everything was going steady for the time being. Michael and Luke continued to sneak around Michael’s family, they went to school, they did band stuff and then suddenly Louis Tomlinson tweeted about them and everything sped up again. 

All four of the boys were in complete and utter shock because this is Louis fucking Tomlinson from fucking One Direction tweeting about their shitty band. Their subscribers on YouTube reached 10,000 in just a few hours of the tweet and soon enough Niall Horan tweeted about them too. 

A few days after the tweets, they were sent an email asking if they would be interested in being the support band for their Take Me Home world tour. And this was when it got a little complicated. 

 

“I say we do it” Calum crossed his arms as he glared at Ashton

“This is One Direction” Ashton huffed crossing his arms as well. “A completely different music genre than us!”

“Yeah and like you said, it’s One Direction” Calum argued “They’re the biggest band in the world! We’d tour the world with them! We’ll get more fans! And people can hear our music!”

“I have literally just graduated high school and you’re all in year 10!” Ashton pointed out “What are you gonna do? Drop out?”

“Yup” Michael spoke up “I was gonna drop out anyway”

“Whatever, what about Luke and you then, Cal?” Ashton argued 

“We can do online school” Luke suggested “I think we should do it”

“Fine!” Ashton gave up “We’ll do it but if it backfires don’t say I didn’t warn you”

 

They had a meeting with all the parents, including Michael’s surprisingly, they were unaware that he had even started a band even though he has mentioned it to them many times. After discussing all the details and going over anything that could possibly go wrong, it was decided that the boys were allowed to open for One Direction as long as Liz was to go with them. 

It wasn’t something they were all that happy about but it made sense as three quarters of the band were underage. Michael also had a suspicion that Luke was very happy that his mother was going with them, he wishes that he had a bond like that with his mother. 

Speaking of his mother, she had stepped out of the room to answer a ‘very important’ phone call and had missed most of the meeting. He could feel the heavy gaze of his father as he sat next to Ashton and he felt uncomfortable. 

 

“You should have told us you were in a band, Michael” his father spoke up. Michael’s head shot up from his lap and he could feel the tension in the room rise. 

“I, um, I did tell you” Michael replied quietly “Many times” 

“Don’t talk back to me” his father ordered narrowing his eyes at his son. Michael shrunk back into his chair and looked back at his lap. He could feel the eyes of everyone in the room on him and he hated it. He supposes that he has to get used to it touring with One Direction on their arena tour and all. Get used to having hundreds, thousands even, looking at him on stage. 

 

Touring with One Direction was fun. He got on particularly well with Harry and he would be lying if he said he didn’t fancy him. He totally did. But it’s okay because Luke admitted he did as well but fancied Michael a whole lot more. Michael blushed. Luke’s very good at making Michael blush and Calum teases him about it relentlessly. 

So when they were asked if they would be interested in touring with them again for the Where We Are tour, they were quick to say yes. They had a fucking album out by this time and this was the publicity they needed. Needed to get their album out to the world, or the countries they would be playing with One Direction. 

Luke and Michael were as strong as ever. Their management team told them to keep their relationship on the down low but it was pretty pointless because both boys had pictures of them kissing on their social medias and it would be a bit weird if suddenly every single picture was gone. 

 

On their days off, Luke made sure to treat Michael to at least one date night at a local restaurant whether it be generic or authentic delicacy. Michael loved being wined and dined by his boyfriend of nearly three years. Three years.

Three years was a long time especially for a high school relationship but Michael’s nearly 19 now and Luke recently turned 18 and they plan to spend the rest of their lives together. 

Michael’s parents knew they were together. He wasn’t sure what his mother thought of their relationship, she was still busy and never paid much attention to her son conquering the world. His father hated the thought of the two together, hated the fact his only child was gay and hadn’t made contact with Michael for a solid two years now. Michael was upset by this but tried to ignore it but it was hard. He wished that he had a loving father like Luke but it’s whatever really. 

When the Where We Are tour ended they started planning their own tour and their second album. They wrote with Alex Gaskarth and Simple Plan and fucking Deryck Whibley of Sum 41. 

Michael remembers the first time they met All Time Low as a band and it took Michael every ounce of strength to not cry about how much he loves them. He instead took it upon himself to blurt out that he and Luke had sex to ‘Hello, Brooklyn’ and immediately clamped his hand over his mouth, wide eyed and red in the face. Luke looked mortified but it was Jack Barakat who interrupted the silence with a loud snort that sent the rest of the band into hysterical laughter. 

 

“We’re honoured” Alex had joked and gave the two mortified boys a hug and maybe Michael held on a little longer than he should have but this was his idol so he figured it was okay. 

 

They started their tour in Lisbon and Michael was smiling as he watched Ashton bounce on the balls of his feet and throw his drumsticks in the air. 

 

“This is it, boys” Ashton had announced “Our first show of our first world tour. Hopefully we don’t fuck up too bad. Hope you guys won’t like, die or anything because that would give us bad reviews and shit but hey maybe it’ll give us more publicity and that’d be cool”

“Ash, you’re rambling” Calum put a hand on his shoulder “Shut the fuck up and go to your drum kit”

“Right” Ashton nodded “Okay” and he bounded away.

 

Luke looked at Michael, adjusting his guitar strap and breathed out nervously. 

 

“Here we go” he smiled a little shakily. He and Michael kissed softly as a ‘good luck please don’t fuck up’ kiss like they do before every show and ignored Calum’s muttering of ‘PDA’ but honestly Calum should be used to this. And he is. But he likes being an annoying asshole. Michael looked at the guard who was looking at the countdown and soon enough he could hear the excited screams from the crowd as Ashton started playing. The guard made a gesture that translated to ‘get your ass on stage’ and Michael ran over to the right side of the stage, followed by Luke and Calum. 

 

“This is our first show of Rock out with Your Socks Out and we’re so happy to be here” Ashton announced loudly from behind his kit. “We’re 5 Seconds of Summer and we hope you’re having an amazing time”

“I sure know I’m having an amazing time” Luke answered in reply to Ashton. “We have a couple more songs left so I hope you stick around”

“The next song is called She Looks So Perfect” Calum continued fiddling with his microphone stand. 

“Luke” Michael put in even though he wasn’t supposed to speak now. “If we ever end up getting married” 

 

Michael had to pause because the screams were so unbearably loud. 

 

“If we ever end up getting married” he repeated “She Looks So Perfect is gonna be our first dance”

“Absolutely not” Luke replied as the first note of the song played. 

 

Luke pushed Michael through their hotel room, they were both breathing heavily as Luke tugged at Michael’s tank top, eager for it to be removed. Michael removed it as quickly as possible before tugging down his jeans, kicking them to the side of the room. Luke removed his own shirt and quickly connected his lips back to Michaels. The kissing was sloppy and messy but neither cared as Luke pushed Michael towards the bed and softly pushed him down before climbing on top, not breaking the kiss. 

 

“Did you put the sock, put the sock on the door” Michael shuddered as Luke kissed his neck, nibbling softly as he did so. Luke grumbled as he crawled off the bed and grabbed a random sock from their suitcase and slipping it on the outside door handle to their room so Ashton and Calum would know not to barge in. It’s happened too many times in the past. 

“Fuck” Michael mumbled as Luke started kissing down his chest, teasing him with biting at his inner thigh. 

“Gonna make you feel so good” Luke promised. 

 

Sometimes being famous sucks. Well for Michael it sucks anyway. No matter what you do someone is going to be hating on you. He could donate a few thousand dollars to charity and people would still say he’s trying to make the rest of us look bad when they donate a smaller amount. 

Michael could handle hate to a certain point. There’s a limit before the hate actually starts to affect him and then he’ll be down for a few days, quieter and not active on social media. He deals with it though because most of the comments are about his hair – he knows he should stop dyeing it so often but he gets bored so easily – and his weight – yeah he’s a little chubby but he likes his body and Luke does too – and the fact that he’s gay. He likes to tweet jokes about being gay which he admittedly steals from Tumblr but no one really has to know that. 

For instance, if someone calls him gay to be used as an insult he tweets them back with “I’m more than that, I am super gay” or something lame like that. Luke does this too sometimes but he normally ignores the gay comments because come on, it’s 2016, using gay as an insult doesn’t mean shit anymore. 

Luke’s not one to embrace the fact he’s gay. He tells people if they ask but he’s not flamboyantly showing off unlike Michael who tells people every chance he gets. (“Michael, you’re gay, correct?” “Yeah, I’m gay, soooo gay, look at me gaying up the place”)

 

They were in LA finishing up on the new album. It was to be released the following week and they were all have a pre celebration of just the four of them. They decided on not getting too drunk but having a couple of beers each wouldn’t hurt. 

 

‘We’ve come so far” Ashton commented taking a large swig of his beer

“We’ve come a long way since the purple shirt” Michael joked knowing that it would get a rise out of his friend. He was right. 

“Fuck off, that joke is so old” Ashton shot back, narrowing his eyes at the now black haired boy. 

“It’s true though” Calum pointed out “Imagine if Michael didn’t get over his petty hate for Luke and they still hated each other”

“He never hated me” Luke laughed “He only did that shit to get my attention because he had a crush on me”

“Well” Michael crossed his arms “It worked, didn’t it?”

“Sure did” Luke leaned over and gave his a quick peck. It was silent for a moment before Luke spoke up again. “Do you guys have something that you’ve never told a soul too?”

 

The three boys nodded slowly in response wondering where Luke was going with this. 

 

“Well, what about if we, um, tell them to each other, like a trust thing because I don’t know about you guys but I trust you with my life as stupid as that sounds” Luke drifted off towards the end. Luke looked over and save Michael staring at his lap, deep in thought, looked at Calum and saw him mindlessly taking a drink of his beer and finally, looking at Ashton who was looking out the window, biting his lip. “I’ll go first if it makes it any easier?”

 

All the attention was on Luke who shuffled nervously and he was scared to find out Michael’s reaction to it but it was the only thing no one knew about him. 

 

“I had a boyfriend when Michael and I went on our first date” Luke rushed out, squinting his eyes shut. 

“You what?!” Michael shouted turning his body towards his boyfriend. “Did you seriously cheat on your boyfriend with me?!”

“I was planning on breaking up with him before the date” Luke replied softly. “He was older and one of Jack’s friends and I thought it was so cool, you know? Dating an older boy but I hated it and he was cheating on me anyway” 

“I know I should be kinda mad but I feel special knowing you picked me over him” Michael admitted “I’m nothing special”

“You’re the most amazing person” Luke wrapped an arm around his waist, pulling him closer “Love you”

“Love you too” Michael sighed softly “I’ll go because it also has something to do with our first date. Um after you left, you know my dad was really angry? Um he hit me”

“Oh, baby” Luke mumbled kissing his boyfriends temple. 

“You should have told someone, bro” Calum put in “Has it happened any other times?”

“No” Michael shook his head “Just the one but he always glares at me and I haven’t spoken to him for two years now. Calum you go”

“Oh okay” he took a deep breath “When we were touring with One Direction, on the last night of Take Me Home and we were out clubbing, I, um, hooked up with this guy”

“Am I the only straight person in this band?” Ashton asked

“No” Calum shook his head “I’m straight but I don’t know, I was curious because Michael kept telling me when he was drunk that it felt so good with a guy so I was tempted to see if it was”

“Was it?” Michael asked eagerly 

“Maybe for you it is but up the ass isn’t for me”

 

They joked about taking it up the ass and Ashton admitting that he though Luke bottomed and Luke looking offended that he was a bottom. He has bottomed before but Michael was a sucker for being dominated regardless how ‘hard core’ his exterior is. 

 

“Ashton, it’s your turn” Michael giggled after admitting that one time he couldn’t walk for two full days because of how hard he and Luke went and Calum’s face looked horrified.

“Wow, um okay” Ashton bit his lip “Do you guys know of Jessica Roberts?”

“Is that the chick who died who went to the same school as you?” Luke asked. Ashton nodded.

“Yeah, um, she was my girlfriend” Ashton admitted scratching the back of his neck. “And when she um, died, well, she was pregnant” 

“Fuck” Calum breathed out “How old were you when it happened?”

“We were seventeen” Ashton answered looking at his lap. “We were gonna have a baby and then I had to take an exam at the same time as her doctor’s appointment and I told her to get her mum to drive her or someone but she was so head strong and independent and said she could driver herself but said her mum was going to drive and then she got hit”

“I don’t know what to say” Luke admitted awkwardly

“Do you think about them a lot?” Michael asked cautiously. 

“I have a picture of the last ultrasound picture we got. The first proper time we could see a face” Ashton reached over to his jacket where his wallet was and pulled out a slightly crumpled sonogram. “Always have it on me” 

“Do you have a picture of you and Jessica?” Luke asked peering over to look at the sonogram. Ashton nodded shortly and pulled out another picture from his wallet. He must still love her deep down. Ashton handed Luke a small picture of the two of them, Ashton had his emo fringe and Luke realised that this was a few months before he joined the band. Ashton had his arm around a dark skinned girl, the girl was leaning into Ashton and Luke could see a small bump under Ashton’s abnormally large hands. 

“Our baby would be nearly four years old now” Ashton whispered “Sorry for bringing the mood down”

 

The four boys felt like a weight had been lifted off all their shoulders. They never spoke about what they confessed that night but they all felt closer than they had before, which was hard to do. 

 

The album had been released, it had succeeded and they’ve had so much positive feedback from the fans and rock magazines. Michael liked reading the comments because really? They still associate them as a boy band? He doesn’t care too much, Blink – 182 were called a boyband when they first started out and look at them now. 

And holy fuck they’re touring the world – again! On their second headline world tour and it’s fucking amazing and they’re travelling to places they’ve never been before, touring more of the countries in Asia and countries Michael’s never heard of – in his defence, he failed Geography, twice. 

They have promo concerts and interviews before they start touring and the interviewers just love bringing up an incident on stage that involved flames and Michael. He’s still shaken up from it if he’s being honest and he knows that they’re just doing their job but is it necessary to bring it up every single interview? He doesn’t even remember much from that night, it’s just a blur of sound, people and pain. Luke was crying more than he did though. He remembers that. 

Touring was a second life to all of them now, maybe a first because they’re not home as often as they’d like to. They know Ashton is sad about missing his siblings growing up but the others don’t have younger siblings to watch grow up. Calum and Luke are the babies of the family and Michael doesn’t have any siblings at all. They all miss their parents, Michael not so much if he was being honest. Last time they went back his mum promised to pick him up from the airport but forgot and Michael caught a bus home and came home to an empty house. It’s okay, he was used to this. 

But it’s okay because he’s doing what he’s dreamed of, he’s friends with his fucking music idols, he’s travelling the world, he has the greatest friends on earth, he’s doing it all with his boyfriend and he gets to share all this with thousands of people. 

 

They’re in Sydney playing to their hometown and it’s the last show of Sounds Live Feels Live and they’re all feeling nostalgic. He can see Luke’s family and Calum’s family and Ashton’s family in the crowd but does a double take when he spots his mum in the crowd. She’s never seen him play despite playing many shows in Sydney. 

He furrows his eyebrows slightly at the fact that she’s here, now of all times and makes his way over to Luke causing the screams to increase. 

 

“Oi” Michael whispers loudly “My mum’s here”

“What?” Luke replied cocking an eyebrow “Why?”

“How the fuck am I supposed to know?” Michael frowns before smiling and singing his next line of the song they were playing into Luke’s microphone. 

 

“This is the last concert of Sounds Live Feels Live and I can’t believe we are about to finish our second world tour” Calum announced looking over the crowd. “We’re honoured to be playing back here in Sydney, where it all started out. Luke do you have something to say?”

“You bet I do” Luke replied before wiggling the microphone out of its stand and walking over to his boyfriend. “Good to be back isn’t babe?”

“Sure is” Michael agreed 

“Your mum is in the crowd, isn’t she” Luke continued “This is the first time she’s seen us live, isn’t that crazy?”

“She’s busy with work, right Mum?” Michael asked a little bitter. He has every right to be. He could see his mum shuffle around and he felt a little bad but he was basically ignored for majority of his life so he didn’t care too much. 

“I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling nostalgic. It’s nearly our fifth year of dating” Luke wrapped an arm over his boyfriend’s shoulders “We saw a couple of bands here together and now we’re playing here”

“Mhmm”

“Anyway, tonight is a special night. As Calum said it’s the last night of tour and I have one thing to say to you” Luke took his arm off of Michael’s shoulders and grabbed something out of his pocket while simultaneously dropping onto one of his knees. The entire arena gasped and Michael’s hand flew over his mouth. He could already feel tears well up in his eyes and he turned around to walk a few steps away as he felt the tears fall. He turned back to Luke, tears still running free. His legs felt like they were going to give way any second if Luke didn’t hurry the fuck up. “Michael Clifford, you hated me in high school because you had a crush on me. We’ve been dating for nearly five years now and I know we’re young but what I’m trying to say is, will you marry me?”

“Oh my god” Michael sniffed as he wiped his face on the sleeves of his shirt. “Fuck, yes, oh my god, yes, of course” 

 

The crowd cheered as Luke slid the ring on Michael’s finger and he could hear Calum and Ashton cheering and yelling as they ran over to where Luke and Michael were. 

 

“I can’t believe I’m marrying you, Hemmings” 

 

“I want our wedding to be the coolest thing in the world” Michael told Luke the following evening. 

“Whatever you want, love”

“Can I walk down the aisle?” Michael asked sheepishly “Always wanted to do that”

“Seems like you’ve been thinking about our wedding for a while”

“I mean, I did daydream about it a couple of times in maths class but that’s beside the point”

“Who are we inviting?”

“Family, friends, oh my god do you think All Time Low will come?”

“I mean we’re friends and we got invited to Alex’s wedding so I don’t see why not?”

“How are you so calm about the fact All Time Low could attend our wedding?”

“I’ve learnt to cry on the inside”

“Teach me, I’m tearing up just thinking of Jack Barakat in a suit”

 

Michael peeked out of the curtain earning a slap on the arm from Calum. He turned, scowling and rubbing his arm as Calum crossed his. 

 

“Not supposed to see Luke until it’s time to walk down the aisle” 

“No one’s walking me down the aisle, normally the dad of the bride or groom I guess walks down with them but my dad didn’t even respond even though I invited him” 

“It’s okay, man, you’re marrying the love of your life. This is the greatest day of your life”

“The greatest day of my life was when Jack Barakat followed me on Twitter shortly followed by meeting All Time Low”

“This is the third greatest day of your life then” Calum tried again getting frustrated at his best friend. “Look, Feldy even offered to walk you down the aisle if you really want someone to” 

“No, no, I’ll do it by myself” Michael breathed out and laughed shakily “Fuck this is happening. I’m gonna be a Hemmings just like when I doodled in the back of my notebooks in high school”

 

He could hear music playing, he didn’t know what was playing but it surely wasn’t ‘Here Comes the Bride’ as far as he could tell. He watched as Ashton walked down with Calum behind Luke’s little cousins who were the flower girl and ring bearer. He snickered to himself as he watched Ashton nearly fall over but quickly shut up when the horrifying fear of falling himself set in. 

Someone who was in charge of the wedding and making sure people walked down when they should motioned Michael to open the doors and start walking down. He felt like his stomach dropped out of his ass when he started to open the door. It was happening, he was marrying Luke Hemmings. All the guests’ heads turned towards him as he opened the doors and started walking. Slow, even steps he told himself just like that dude told him. 

 

“Michael!” a voice called out “Wait”

 

Michael’s head shot up and turned to where the voice was. He was shocked to see his Dad standing at the aisle. He gasped as his Dad linked arms with him and the music started playing and together they walked down the aisle. Michael was already close to tears when he started walking and he wasn’t ashamed that a few fell when his dad started talking quietly to him. 

 

“I’m sorry I haven’t been a very good father growing up. I’m sorry that I told you that you weren’t allowed to date boys. I’m so sorry that we haven’t been in contact the past years. I’m not asking for your forgiveness right away but I’m hoping we can rebuild our father son relationship. I’m so proud of you, Mikey” his Dad told him as they reached the pillars and Luke took his hand, wide eyed and bashful. 

 

Luke and Michael zoned out for majority of their own wedding, only ‘waking up’ when the minister asked if Luke takes Michael to be his husband and all that. Both boys saying ‘I do’ in breathless voices. And then what everyone had been waiting for, ‘You may kiss the groom’

 

And they kissed. It was official. And it felt so fucking good. 

 

The after party was a laugh. Luke nearly punched Ashton when Ashton bribed the DJ to play ‘She Looks So Perfect’ as their first dance. Michael had stripped off the suit jacket and tie and rolled up the sleeves of his pristine white shirt to his elbows showing off his tattoos. Luke had also ditched the jacket but had opted to loosening his tie instead. 

There were congratulations being thrown left, right and centre from family members and Sydney friends. They cut the cake and Luke shoved his piece into his husbands face. It felt weird saying that, husband, but it has a nice ring to it. 

 

“Congrats guys” Alex told the newly married couple as he caught them by themselves “Married, how’s it feel?”

“I thought my stomach dropped out of my ass” Michael admitted 

“Well, that’s one way to feel I guess” Luke laughed pulling his husband closer. “It feels amazing, man, you’re gonna feel a million bucks on your wedding day”

“Looking forward to it” Alex smiled “On your honeymoon you could have sex to ‘Hello, Brooklyn’ again”

“Oh my god” Michael blushed “No way. I still can’t believe that was the first thing I ever said to you guys”

“’Hello, Brooklyn’ isn’t even a good song to make love too” Luke mumbled 

“It’s true” Alex nodded “Next time try ‘Get Down on Your Knees and Tell Me You Love Me’”

“Shut the fuck up”


End file.
